14 April: A Tale of Two Cities

On this date in 1859 Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities was published. 10 things you didn't know about it:

1. A Tale of Two Cities was the twelfth novel written by Charles Dickens, and his second historical novel, the other being Barnaby Rudge.
2. It's the only one of his novels set outside of England. While much of the action takes place in London, some of the story takes place in Paris. It spans a time period of roughly 36 years, from December 1757 and the last in either late 1793 or early 1794.
3. The book begins with the words "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." It ends with "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
4. The story was first published as a serial in a magazine, like many of Dickens's works. It was actually written for a new weekly magazine he'd set up called All The Year Round. His previous works had been serialised in a publication called Household Words, another weekly magazine. He'd fallen out with the publishers of that one and was striking out on his own with All the Year Round.
5. He'd also just split up with his wife of 23 years and was starting a relationship with a young actress called Ellen Ternan. Lucie Manette, the main female character in the book is said to resemble her. Not only that, but it has been noted that the man she marries, Charles Darnay, has the same initials as Dickens and the man who gives up his life for Darnay is called Carton, so together they also have those initials. When asked if the two men were based on himself, though, Dickens denied it.
6. The character of Madame Defarge, whose knitting contains coded information, may have been based on early computer programmer Ada Lovelace. She and Charles Babbage certainly moved in the same social circles as Dickens did, and quite likely knew each other.
7. Dickens first had the idea for the novel while acting in a play called The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins in 1857. The main character in the novel was originally named Dick Carton, after Richard Wardour in the play.
8. Talking of plays, an 1856 play called The Dead Heart by Watts Phillips had a similar plot and some Dickens fans were quick to accuse Phillips of plagiarism. However, since the play was written first, if anyone was guilty of plagiarism, it was Dickens. The two writers were friends, so it's entirely possible they influenced each other.
9. The themes of the story are social injustice, the plight of the poor in Paris and London, and redemption. There's also sensational stuff like espionage, adventure, grave-robbing, love, war, and execution to keep readers interested. Water is used as a symbol for the anger of the peasant mob, as illustrated by the quote: "The sea did what it liked, and what it liked was destruction."
10. The film The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan, was inspired by the novel. Not only the drama of the story in general but the eulogy for Batman includes Sydney Carton's last words: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done," and the character Bane, who organises trials for the ruling elite of Gotham, is seen knitting in one of the trial scenes like Madame Defarge. His catchphrase "the fire rises" comes from the book as well.

A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

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